Emma Hapner studied at the New York Academy of Art receiving her Master’s of Fine Arts with a focus on painting. Originally from Indiana, she received my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Ball State University. Hapner works primarily with oil paint on canvas to create figurative works, reclaiming the language of classical painting from a woman’s perspective.
To Hapner, the colour pink is a symbol of unapologetic femininity. She paints her figures in pink worlds and looks to motifs from classical antiquity to celebrate traditional painting from her own perspective: A woman seeking to understand the intricacies of womanhood.
Her paintings focus on the duality of womanhood that she has experienced, and often use repetition of the same person to create a multi-faceted portrait, conveying a complex sense of individual identity. Their evolving representations signify the different roles women often have and the way women can be perceived: sexually, motherly, or youthfully. In doing so, she hopes to embrace these complexities while critiquing the need for their existence.
Hapner is inspired by lyrical compositions from artists like Pontormo and Caravaggio and use traditional oil painting techniques to reimagine classical scenes through a feminist lens. The figures in her paintings often gaze directly outwards, confronting the viewer, and claiming agency.
Embracing her love of pink, as a woman and an artist. By immersing multiple figures in a hot pink space, she hopes to depict the intimate, tumultuous, and ever-changing relationship with oneself. Conventionally, soft pink has historically / stereotypically been a colour for young girls, but her my work she uses intense shades of quinacridone red, magenta, and fluorescent pink to embrace both sensuality and power.